June 14, 2016

Artist’s impression of cold intergalactic rain

Deep in the heart of the Abell 2597 Brightest Cluster Galaxy, astronomers see a small cluster of giant gas clouds raining in on the central black hole. They were revealed by the billion light-year-long shadows they cast toward Earth. These ALMA data present the first observational evidence for predicted chaotic cold accretion onto a supermassive black hole.